Fishberry Campground, Valentine, Nebraska
Meanwhile, Abimelech had come to him from Gerar, with Ahuzzath his person adviser and Phicol the commander of his forces. Isaac asked them, “Why have you come to me, since you were hostile to me and sent me away?” They answered, “We saw clearly that the LORD was with you; so we said, ‘There ought to be a sworn agreement between us – between us and you. Let us make a treaty with you that you will do us no harm, just as we did not molest you but always treated you well and sent you away in peace. And now you are blessed by the LORD.” ~ Genesis 26:26-33 And so they did. Again. If you remember, back in Genesis 21, Abraham and the first Abimelech made a similar treaty at the same place, and Phicol was there then too. I guess the Philistines felt a need to reassert a treaty between the two sons now. Isn’t it wonderful when those outside the faith can see God working and moving in His children’s lives – despite their weaknesses (the sin of pride (not trusting God and doing things their own way) and deceit on the part of both Abraham and Isaac)? Do others see that in our lives? Despite our own weaknesses?
I’m undecided if I’m a proponent of Benadryl. I have two bites near the inside of my right ankle. They itch like the dickens and burn like crazy when they’re not itching. Last night it woke me in the middle of the night, thinking my foot/leg must surely be on fire! We happened to have an unopened box of Benadryl pills, so I read the box and took the limit – two. The itching and pain stopped within about 20 minutes and I slept more soundly and restfully than I have in I don’t know how long! So that’s good.
The problem was, I also wanted to sleep all day today. Granted, I took one more at breakfast, but still. A lot of medications have that affect on me. Which is why I rarely take anything other than my Trazadone at bedtime. At least that one doesn’t make me drowsy – just helps me go back to sleep if I wake up during the night. Great stuff, that Trazadone!
Anyway. You decide if you want to use Benadryl or not. I never needed any more. I’ll use it again if nasty bugs decide to attack me again.
Before we leave this lovely area today and head into South Dakota, I’d like to share some information about the area we’ve been staying in – The Nebraska Sand Hills. It covers 19, 300 square miles and makes up about a quarter of the state – roughly the size of Vermont and New Hampshire combined! From onlyinyourstate.com:
The Nebraska Sandhills are one of the largest plant-anchored sand dune regions in the world, and the largest sand dune formation in the Western Hemisphere. The dunes sit atop the Ogallala Aquifer, resulting in thousands of little lakes and ponds in lower-lying areas.
This unique combination of environmental factors makes the Sandhills region the largest, most intricate wetland ecosystem in the United States, according to US Fish and Wildlife Service.
The Sandhills remain one of the wildest, most untamed parts of America. These dunes were once thought to be totally useless since the land could not be used to grow crops. As such, the vast majority of this area has never seen a plow – as much as 85% of the Sandhills region is intact natural habitat.
Early Nebraskans soon learned, however, that the Sandhills are perfect ranch land. Cattle thrive out here in “Nebraska’s Outback.” Today, more than 535,500 head of beef cows are living in the Sandhills.
The gently swooping hills range from barely-there bumps to impressively tall dunes up to 400 feet tall and up to 20 miles long.
This NASA image shows just how impressive the Sandhills are even from space.
Nearly all of the land in the Sand Hill area is privately owned.
Despite only being nine miles from the border, it took us 72 miles and an hour and fifteen minutes to cross it, because our chosen route took us parallel to it. The total drive today was 206 miles.
This was the best I could do!
As you can see, it was cloudy today, and we got spit on a few times, and also had to wrestle the coach a couple of times when strong gusts tried to bully us off the road, but mostly it was uneventful, except . . .
We didn’t realize it, but we passed through one of the Lakota Indian Reservations. We discovered that when we had to stop at a COVID check-point in Batesland, South Dakota. A guy with a clipboard asked Blaine’s last name and where he was going to and coming from, wrote it down, and sent us on our way. Not sure what they’re doing with that information.
When’s the last time you saw bareback riders?
There was a check-point at the other end, but we didn’t have to stop.
We saw this several times, and it seemed like strange behavior to us.
Wonder if our friend who grew up on a farm would know why??
Wonder what’s up with the busts??
Southern Hills RV Park, Hermosa, South Dakota
there’s a restaurant walking distance right next door.
The woman at check-in said the food’s really good. : )
We are now parked for the next 30 days. This campground is literally close to everything! Custer State Park, Mt. Rushmore, Black Hills National Forest, Crazy Horse memorial, and tons of towns who tout various museums and attractions. Thirty days sounds like a lot, but even after that, we won’t be done out here. We’ll still have a week in Wyoming, two weeks in the Badlands, and another week on the east side of South Dakota. And I have a sneaking suspicion that we’ll be wanting more time. . . .
Because I know we’ll be busy, I’ve made a vow not to take as many pictures, so I can actually, maybe, possibly, publish posts once in a while. We’ll see how long the vow lasts . . . .
Our campground made the news tonight.
Remember those presidential figures out front? Someone vandalized them last night! We wondered about it, but didn’t realize it had just happened. So since it made the news, I’ll tell you – – apparently President Bush is a murderer? And President Reagan was a drug dealer? (are they referring to the bowl of Jelly Bellys he kept on his desk?) And President Kennedy? Well, it seems he was just perfect! So either the vandals were Democrats, or they don’t believe that adultery or mob connections are a problem. . . .
Here’s what I found online about them:
The iconic heads of four US Presidents sculpted on the granite face of Mount Rushmore, in the Black Hills in South Dakota, has marveled millions of visitors and inspired countless artists. Houston-based sculptor David Adickes first went to visit Mount Rushmore in the early nineties. The sight bedazzled him, but also disappointed him because the heads were high up and inaccessible. So Adickes decided to build something where visitors can get up close and personal with the heads of the presidents. Emboldened by his recent success at Huntsville, Texas, where he created a gargantuan statue of Sam Houston in 2003, Adickes set about creating his own “Presidents Park” just 40 miles away from Mount Rushmore in the town of Lead.
Adickes used polystyrene and plaster to create molds in his studio in Texas. White Portland cement was then poured into the molds to create 43 heads of as many presidents. The busts are 16 to 20 feet tall, and although the heads are hollow, each weighs about 18 tons. The heads were then transported from his studio in Houston to Lead, where they were installed in the woods along a winding path through tall pine trees.
The same year, Adickes opened a second Presidents Park in Williamsburg, Virginia, and a third in his hometown Houston, the following year. Had his endeavor been successful, Adickes would probably have created many more parks, thanks to the giant molds in his studio which gave him infinite replication capabilities. Unfortunately, poor public response and the inability to keep up with the financing caused all the three parks to close in 2010.
The large heads still lie abandoned behind closed gates, but some were carted off to grace RV Parks and lawns of hotels and inns. ~ amazingplanet.com
Haven’t had a chance to ask the campground people how they got here, or why. Hopefully by the end of our 30-day stay. 😊
We’re so excited to see what God unfolds for us over the next month!